Small Acts of Resistance: Popular Movements and Democratic Change

Author and Amnesty International advocate Steve Crawshaw (left); Bangkok Post columnist and TV pundit Voranai Vanijaka (right).

A very timely discussion took place at the FCCT on March 22, 2011, featuring author and democracy advocate Steve Crawshaw, and Bangkok Post columnist and TV pundit Voranai Vanijaka. Crawshaw is the co-author of Small Acts of Resistance: How Courage, Tenacity, and Ingenuity Can Change the World, and currently is attached to Amnesty International. His thesis, now on display in the Middle East, is that ordinary people, in many ways, can affect democratic change and human rights. The examples he gave of successful democratization efforts in Poland, Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, and other places, were instructive. When I asked him during the Q & A session, whether he felt that foreign intervention, as is happening in Libya, aided incipient democratic movements, he had no opinion to state, reiterated Amnesty International’s position that both sides must avoid excessive force and the injury of civilians.

Kh. Voranai was the more interesting speaker. He took the audience on a deft and perceptive tour of contemporary Thai politics, a subject of increased interest in the Kingdom because of the looming election. Basically, Kh. Voranai does not see that the election of a new parliament, which will then choose a prime minister, will change very much because Thailand remains divided, and the losers, regardless of which party or parties lose, will not accept the election’s outcome. If the Thaksin party wins, then the yellow shirts will be back on the street; and if the Thaksin party loses, the red shirts will be back on the streets. In either event, expect more of the same. Thai politics is still very much about fugitive former PM Thaksin.

Kh. Voranai reported that a recent poll showed that a majority of Thais do not want an election, viewing it as a waste of time and money; rather, a majority of those polled would prefer an appointed government, a procedure that is provided for in the current constitution under certain circumstances. After the this summer’s election, it seems likely that no party will receive an absolute majority, and a coalition government will most likely once more turn to the Democratic Party to form a coalition government with the current Prime Minister Abhisit again heading the government.

All observers hope that the election will be peaceful, and, to me, it seems likely that it will be, unless Thaksin stages a grandstand play and returns to Thailand, at which point, all bets are off. As for a revolution in Thailand, Kh. Voranai pointed out that things never get that bad for the Thai people, the poor are not that poor, corruption is bad, but not that bad, civil liberties are denied, but not that much, and so forth. As for another military coup, that possibility always exists in Thailand and will exist until fundamental changes take place, which are unpredictable. I think that Kh. Voranai’s message is: stay tuned.